Color Me Embarrassed
by Falconflight
Summary: The Junior you know and love is dead. The Junior in this fanfic you may love, but you hardly know. Junior's story before Starship and before he became evil. JuniorXOC Updates will not be as frequent as they used to be.
1. Textbook Projectiles

_**Okay, this is a long a/n, but please bear with me. I have some important information.**_

_**First off, yes, I am writing another Starship fanfic. This one will be multi-chaptered an Junior-centric. I had been tossing around some ideas for another Starship fanfic after writing Feliz Navidad, You Idiota, and I decided I wanted to do something Junior-centric. I began to browse some Junior fanfics to get some ideas. And guess what? There's only four! Well, five now. As much as I love TUp, I believe that some other pairings/characters deserve notice. (I'm doing a Tootsie fanfic next; he only has 2!) **_

_**Personally, I think that all the characters that live can be paired with other living characters, so instead of pairing Junior up with a character from Starship, I decided to do a rare OC pairing. This will be the first one I've seen in the Starship fandom.**_

_**You didn't have to read that, but you do have to read this because I need to do a bit of explaining. Originally, this was supposed to be the second chapter. The first chapter was supposed to be a collection of short little bits that explained Junior and Nina's (OC) relationship. I got very frustrated while writing it, though. I decided to skip it and explain all the important details here. **_

_**The first one is that Junior transfered into Nina's kindergarten class in the middle of the year so his dad (Dr. Space-Claw, incase you've forgotten) could be closer to a G. L. E. E. ground base. This seems minor, but it is important.**_

_**Secondly, Nina's mother has cancer, which is hinted at in the original chapter. This is also very important.**_

_**The rest of it is explained in a paragraph near the end. Now, I apologize ahead of time if this first chapter seems rushed or undeveloped. As I said, this was originally written with another chapter before it. I swear it gets better later on. The first chapters always seem to be the hardest to write... Well, I'll stop keeping you here and let you get on with the story!**_

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><p><strong>Chapter 1: Textbook Projectiles<strong>

**Nina's POV**

Nina Wesley stood anxiously outside of the manor after ringing the doorbell. She had been both honored and perplexed when Junior had called her at five a.m. on a **Saturday** asking her to come over. It had taken her about an hour to make herself presentable and get her dad to drive her over. In that hour, Nina had gone over all the possible reasons for Junior to call her at such an early time. She couldn't find the answer, though.

The door swung open. Junior stood in the doorframe, and he looked as tired as Nina felt. His eyes were blood-shot, and his chocolate brown hair that he always took so much care of was a messy clump. Junior winced; he knew Nina was inspecting his unkempt hair and wrinkled clothes.

"Hey," Junior grimaced, staring at his feet.

Nina shook her head. "What happened?" she demanded.

"I was working on something last night," he muttered.

Nina frowned. "We haven't had any projects or homework in the past month; we've just been studying for finals."

"That's kind of what I've been doing," Junior admitted. He sighed and stepped back so Nina could walk in. "I'd say make yourself at home, but you're here often enough to have this be your home."

Nina stared at Junior as she slipped by him. _Lame jokes, not caring about his appearance… what's going on here? _Junior's strange behavior was really worrying her. _It's probably nothing major._

As Nina walked into the manor, though, she realized something was very wrong. It was messy. Books were open and papers were strewn across the living room. Eraser shavings coated the floor, and bits of broken pencil lead dotted the room. Junior was one of the most clean person she knew, and the sight of his living room in such disarray was troubling.

"Don't worry; it's better than my room," Junior assured her from behind.

Nina turned and stared at him. He was wearing that half confident half witty smile. "What's going on here?"

"I've been studying," Junior explained, shoving his hands into his pockets as he so often did.

"For what?" Nina pressed.

"Finals," Junior admitted.

"Why? Nobody studies for finals!" It was true; the finals were usually pretty easy and didn't affect your grade too much.

"I kind of have to," Junior answered.

"Why?" Nina repeated. "They don't care about your final grades at the high school."

"I'm not going to the high school," Junior announced at last.

Nina was even more confused. "What do you mean?"

"My dad wants me to join the Academy." Junior drew a hand through his messy hair and scratched the back of his neck nervously.

"As in the **Starship Ranger** Academy?" Nina wasn't actually too surprised; Junior's dad was a Starship Ranger, and he had made it clear on many occasions that he wanted Junior to be one too.

Junior nodded. "I have to improve my grades if I want to get in, though."

Nina cocked an eyebrow. "Why does a Starship Ranger need to know the Pythagorean Theorem, though? Don't they just go around shooting robots?"

"Well, there are multiple branches that you can go into after you finish four basic years at the Academy," Junior explained. "Like majors in college. There are certain requirements for those, including your middle school grades. So I need to study."  
>"Did you wake me up to help you study?" Nina demanded.<p>

Junior gave her a half-cheeky half-embarrassed smile. "Sorry?"

Nina sighed. "I forgive you, but I still don't see why this couldn't have waited, like, five hours."

"My dad wanted it to get done now," Junior explained. He moved some stuff off the couch and sat down.

Nina plopped down beside him. "What were you studying?"

Junior fished out a color-coded copy of the Periodic Table. "This."

Nina looked over the sheet. She had never cared for science too much, and she wasn't sure why their teacher had insisted on making them learn the first fifty elements. She pretended to examine the sheet and look for a question to ask, but Nina was thinking about Junior. She respected his decision to try and get into the Academy, and she would be happy for him if he did, but she couldn't stop thinking about what it would do to their friendship. Would they be able to keep in touch, or would this be one of the last times Nina saw him?

Nina must've looked worried because Junior sighed. "We'll still see each other on breaks."

Nina rolled her eyes. "That's very reassuring."

Junior frowned. "What?"

"You'll have new friends you'll want to hang out with during the breaks. Friends you'll want to hang out with more than me," Nina explained.

Junior shook his head. "There's no friend I want to hang out with more than you."

Nina felt her heart flutter slightly for reasons she couldn't understand. She swallowed the sudden butterflies in her stomach. She covered up the sudden feeling of… something with a smirk.

"I'm your only friend right now," she reminded him.

Junior laughed. "True, true."

"Well, I'm not going to risk losing my only friend to a group of pompous pricks like the G. L. E. E.," Nina announced. Junior chuckled slightly. "So there's only one solution."

Junior frowned at her. "What?"

"I'm going to have to go to the Academy with you," Nina replied.

Junior's entire face lit up. "Really?"

Nina nodded. "I'm sure I can get in, and I'm not going to let my best friend become a Starship Ranger without me."

Junior hugged her tightly. "Thank you so much, Nina. I was worried I was going to go through the same thing that happened in Kindergarten."

Nina laughed. "I'm sure you're not going to kick anybody out of their seat this time."

Both of them laughed as they remembered Junior's first day in Kindergarten where he had accidentally sat in Nina's spot. Nina had been so angry, and the two had been bitter rivals afterwards until about third grade when some fifth graders had been teasing Nina. When they pushed her into the mud, it had been Junior who had come to her rescue and scared the bullies off by telling them his dad was a Starship Ranger.

Junior smiled at her. "Well, you should probably fill out an application. The deadline for them is tomorrow."

"What?" Nina yelped. She sprang off of the couch. "Why didn't you tell me sooner? I need to print it out! I need to fill it out! I need to-"

Junior just laughed as Nina dashed around the room, looking for a pencil and a computer. Nina crashed into a stack of heavy textbooks, and one of them landed on her foot. Junior practically choked himself as he tried to resist laughing. Nina shot a glare at him as she hopped around, clutching one foot.

"This isn't funny," she muttered.

Junior was still laughing, though. Nina smirked as an idea formed in her head. She bent down and picked up the text book that had fallen on her foot. She chucked it at Junior, and it hit him in the knee. He kept laughing, though, oblivious to the pain.

Nina glared at him. _He's lucky I like him, _Nina decided. _Or I wouldn't have missed his head._


	2. Homemade Dark Marks

_**Blood warning! Oh, and this has several AVPM references. And it's partly based on the school that FuzzehNomNom and I go to.**_

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><p><strong>Chapter 2: Homemade Dark Marks<strong>

**Junior's POV**

Done. Junior couldn't help but feel a little bit relieved as he finished bubbling in the last answer on his ScanTron sheet. He flipped the test back to the front page and glanced around the room. Some students were still hunched over their papers while others were lounging in their chairs. The peaceful silence was interrupted when one kid leaned too far back in his chair and crashed on the ground. Ms. Allen looked up from the papers she was grading and glared at the student. He scrambled to his feet and sat back down in his seat, and it was silent again.

Junior craned his neck and tried to get a glimpse of Nina. At the beginning of the year, Ms. Allen had made the mistake of putting the two next to each other. She had quickly realized her error and kept them as far apart as possible as often as she could. He could see Nina fiddling with a black marker. Junior frowned and turned around in his chair to get a better look.

"Junior, eyes on your own paper!" Ms. Allen snapped.

Junior quickly turned back around and bent his head down low. He tapped his fingers on the desk until Ms. Allen told everybody to put their pencils down. She commanded Nina to collect the answer sheets. When she came to Junior's desk, Junior saw a smiley face with a snake coming out of it drawn on her arm. Junior shot her a questioning look, and she smirked in response. For the last five minutes of class, Ms. Allen lectured them on their rude behavior. No one was really paying attention to her, though. Everyone was staring at the clock behind her impatiently. No one started chanting 'summer', thank Dead God. Finally, the bell rang and everybody sprang out of their seat and ran towards the door. Junior waited for Nina, though.

"What is that?" he demanded, pointing at her arm.

Nina smirked. "Did you read the instructions on first sheet?" Junior shook his head. "The first one said 'make dark marks'. So I did."

Junior stared at the crude drawing on her arm again. "Since when do Death Eaters have smiley faces on their arms?"

Nina shrugged. "I couldn't draw a skull, so-"

Nina was cut off as a loud crash and a scream echoed through the hall. A few seconds later, the intercom beeped. "Students, teachers, this is not a drill." The principal's voice rang echoed throughout the school; everybody had stopped what they were doing. "This is a robot attack. Please go-"

A scream pierced through the intercom, and after that, it was silent. All of the students stood in the hall, frozen with fear. Every last shred of common sense had been drained from their bodies, and Junior knew they would start to panic soon. Sure enough, a tall blonde girl let out a high-pitched squeal, and the students were thrown into pandemonium. Students started running in random directions and screaming their heads off. Discarded books and pencils flew everywhere, and kids shoved into each other while trying to get to the door leading outside.

"Uh, what are we supposed to be doing during a robot attack?" Nina asked nervously. Junior could hear the fear in her voice.

Junior frowned as he tried to recall the drills they endured every month. He couldn't think over the blood pounding in his ears and the screams of hysterical classmates. He remembered tornado drills, fire drills, and intruder drills, but not the robot ones. In any other situation, Junior would've suggested hiding in a secluded room, but the robots could easily get through the flimsy wooden doors. Unless…

"I have an idea!" Junior announced.

"What?" Nina pressed.

The ground shook underneath them. "The vault," Junior explained. The school's entire budget was kept on school grounds, and all the trophies that didn't fit into the display cases were in there as well. The door would be strong enough to hold the robots for awhile.

"That's on the other side of the school!" Nina exclaimed.

Junior shrugged. "It's our best option."

Nina nodded, and suddenly the two were running down the hall, charging past panicking students and hopping over debris. Then they saw the robots. The flying hunks of metal were hovering underneath a hole in the roof and shooting almost lazily at the hysterical students. They watched in horror as a sixth grader fell to the ground.

"How do we get past them?" Nina asked.

Junior shook his head as he stared at the smoking body. "We could-"

Junior wasn't sure what they could do, but one of the robots threw a grenade at their feet. It exploded on impact with the ground, flinging them into opposite walls. Junior grimaced as his head collided with the lockers. He could see Nina across the hall with blood trickling from her forehead. The robot who threw the grenade flew towards them to confirm that they were dead.

"Play dead," Junior mouthed.

Nina nodded affirmatively, slouched slightly, and closed her eyes. Junior fell to the ground and closed his eyes too. He could hear the robots engine above him, but it faded away after a few minutes. Junior cracked open an eye to confirm that the robot was gone; it was. The rest of the robots were missing as well; they had probably fanned out across the rest of the school.

Junior clambered to his feet and headed over to Nina. There was a cut on her forehead from a piece of the floor, but she was otherwise fine. Junior tapped her shoulder, and Nina slapped him.

"Damn it," Junior muttered, cradling his cheek.

Nina winced. "Sorry. Reflexes."

Junior sighed. "Come on; the robots are gone."

"Gone?" Nina echoed. She stood up and looked around. "Where'd they go?"

"Other parts of the school," Junior answered grimly. "Come on; we better hurry."

Nina nodded. They started running again. Junior felt his stomach churn as he saw his classmates lying dead on the side of the hallway. It was sickening to look at their burnt bodies. He had never been particularly close to anyone at school except for Nina, but none of them, even the bullies, deserved their fate. Eventually, they reached the principal's office; the vault was inside the office. The robots were also in the office, though.

Junior grimaces as he saw the two robots hovering inside. He couldn't think of any ideas for getting past them, but he saw Nina pick up a fist-sized piece of tile. Then, she chucked at the wall. It created a loud clang, and the robots heard it. They flew out of the office to go inspect the noise.

"Nice job," Junior muttered as the two snuck into the office.

"Thanks," Nina answered breathlessly.

They stood in front of the vault. They both knew it was locked, so there was no point in trying to open it. Junior examined the sides, searching for a padlock or a fingerprint scanner. Eventually, he did find a scanner. There would be no way to override it; they needed someone's finger.

"It probably matches the principal's finger," Nina commented.

Junior nodded. "Where is he?"

The two looked around, and eventually, they found a slumped figure in the corner. They crouched down in front of him.

"Should we drag him over there?" Junior asked.

Nina shook her head. "We should cut his finger off."

Junior stared at her, appalled. "Why?"

"The robots won't be able to open it if we do that," Nina reminded him.

Junior grimaced at the thought. "Fine. If you can find a knife, you can do that. I'm going to watch for the robots; they'll come back soon."

Junior headed towards the door. He peered out the window, but he couldn't see any robots. As he stood watch, he could hear Nina rummaging through the office. He saw her examining a letter opener (who has those anymore?) out of the corner of his peripheral vision. He heard the clang of metal against wood as she put the letter opener down.

Suddenly, a walkie-talkie on the desk came to life. A series of beeps and whirrs came from the other end. Another robot was contacting the two who were supposed to be here. There was a pause while the other robot waited for an answer, but Junior didn't dare answer. There was another complicated pattern of noises before the line went dead.

"I think they might come looking for their buddies soon," Junior informed Nina.

When there was no response, Junior turned and saw Nina sawing the principal's finger off with a shard of glass. The blood coating her hands sickened Junior, and he turned away. He looked outside again, and he could see the two robots coming down the right side of the hall. He turned and saw another robot flying up from the left. Fear immediately seized Junior's heart, and he turned back to Nina.

"Hurry up," he hissed. "They're coming."

"Just a second," Nina answered.

Her entire face was lined with disgust, but she pulled away, clutching the principal's pointer finger in her hands. She crawled over to the fingerprint scanner and pressed the bloody finger to the scanner. Junior watched anxiously as the machine analyzed the print. Finally, he heard something click, and the door opened.

"Come on," Junior commanded.

He jumped to his feet and pulled Nina inside the dark vault. He slammed the door behind them just as he heard the creak of the principal's office's door. It was pitch black in the vault, but Nina pulled out her phone. Its light illuminated a small portion of the room, but it was enough to find the light switch.

"What do we do now?" Nina whispered, afraid that the robots outside would hear her.

Junior shrugged. He was honestly just relieved to have made it to the vault. "Call my dad?" he suggested.

Nina shook her head. "I don't have his number. Do you know it?"

Junior nodded. Nina handed it to him, but she let go of it before Junior had a firm grasp on it. The phone fell to the floor and clang against the ground. Nina winced as the sound rang throughout the otherwise silent room. Junior looked back at the door, wondering if the robots had heard. There was no noise from outside, though, so Junior leaned down and scooped it up.

He punched in his dad's number and waited anxiously as it rang. Eventually, though, he heard his dad's deep voice on the other line. "Hello?"

"Dad!" Junior exclaimed, unable to keep the relief out of his voice. "Uh, there's sort of a… situation at school."

"What kind of situation?" his dad demanded.

"A situation involving robots attacking the school," Junior explained.

There was a pause on the other end. "I'll be there as soon as I can." The call ended.

Junior grinned as he handed Nina her phone. "We're going to be alright."

Nina forced a smile. "We might be the only ones."

Junior shook his head. "Don't say that."

"How can you tell me not to say it when I know that you're thinking it?" Nina snapped.

She was right; he was thinking about it. He couldn't get the images of the corpses and the blood out of his head. They remained burned into his memory, and it was terrifying.

_I can't think about that now, _Junior told himself. _We're going to be alright. That's what matters. Nina will be alright._

And in all honesty, that was the only thing that Junior cared about.


	3. The Magic of the F5 Button

_**Happy Explosion Day and New Years to all my lovely readers. I must apologize for the shortness of this chapter. It was just to sort of bridge the gap between the summer and the next school year. And it's not as much filler as the last chapter (though those traumatic events may come back later), so I hope you enjoy it. Also, 'zmail' is basically the future version of 'gmail' (so they use Zoogle instead of Google), but 'email' is still the same. I hope that made sense.**_

_**Oh, and Brian Holden is Sexymon. Don't question it, and don't ignore her if FuzzehNomNom tells you that Joe Walker is actually Sexymon. 'Kay?**_

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><p><strong>Chapter 3: The Magic of the F5 Button<strong>

**Nina's POV**

Nina woke up at six. She was still tired, but she forced herself out of bed and crawled over to her desk. Half-awake, she turned her computer on and watched blearily as the screen flashed. She stared at her desktop sleepily, not remember why she had logged on in the first place. Then she remembered. It was June 25th. Today, she would find out if she had gotten into the Academy.

Nina signed onto her zmail and wearily sorted through her new emails. Junk, pictures from her mom, junk, spam, and more junk. Disappointed, Nina scrolled through her contacts list to see who else was on. She couldn't think of anybody who would be awake so early, but she saw that Junior was on. She hit the vid. chat option, and suddenly, Junior's tired face illuminated the screen.

"Nina!" Junior exclaimed, slightly surprised. "Have you gotten your email yet?"

Nina shook her head. "No, and I'm guessing by the fact that you seem to be pressing the F5 button every five seconds that you haven't gotten it either."

Junior shook his head grimly. "I've been up since two a.m."

Nina couldn't believe it. "Two a.m.!" she echoed with disbelief.

Junior nodded. "Guess how many cans of coke I've had to drink to stay awake."

Nina shook her head. "No. I don't want to know."

"Do you want to know how many two liter bottles of coke I've drunk?" Junior asked.

Nina shook her head again. "I definitely don't want to know that."

Junior shrugged. "Suit yourself."

"What have you been doing for the past-" Nina checked her watch. "-four hours and ten minutes?"

"Punching the crap out of my F5 button," Junior informed her.

"I'm worried about it too, but don't you think you're a little too worked up about this?" Nina frowned.

Junior sighed. "Probably, but getting in means everything to my dad. If I don't…"

Junior drifted off. Nina had only met Dr. Space-Claw a couple of times, but he had come off as… demanding. A person who set very high expectations and commanded that those expectations be met. And Junior was one of those people who tried to please everyone and became guilty when they didn't.

"You'll get in," Nina assured him.

"Yeah, but-" Suddenly, Junior stopped.

"What?" Nina demanded.

"Nina, refresh your zmail," Junior commanded.

Nina frowned and hit the F5 button. She waited nervously as the page refreshed. Then she saw it. The one email in her inbox. From the Academy.

"You go first," Nina suggested.

Junior's eyes widened with panic. "No. You go first."

"We'll do it at the same time," Nina decided.

Junior looked reluctant, but he nodded. "On three. One, two, three."

Nina clicked on the message. It was long and formal; it went on and on about the history of the Galactic League of Extraterrestrial Exploration. There were paragraphs upon paragraphs about the honor of even being considered to join. It went to great lengths to describe the responsibility of being a Starship Ranger and the expectations of the G. L. E. E. Irritated, Nina scrolled down to the bottom, searching for a simple 'you got in'. She found what she was looking for. Right about the Galactic League symbol was a short sentence that said, 'We can't wait to see you in the fall.'

_I got in!_ Nina thought excitedly. She felt a smile form on her face. _I got in! I got in!_

Junior was still reading over the message, and an idea sprung in Nina's mind. She quickly recomposed herself and waited for Junior to finish reading the letter. She couldn't help but smirk a little bit as she watched Junior's entire face light up with happiness. He leapt up out of his chair and ran around the room cheering joyfully.

When he finished his fourth victory lap, Junior slid back into his seat. A stupid grin was plastered to his face. "I got in!"

_I would've never guessed. _Nina considered telling him that, but she decided it would be much more fun to stick to her original plan.

Nina grimaced and looked down at the floor sadly. She crossed her arms and sniffled slightly. It was a pathetic display, but Junior was rather gullible. "I didn't."

"Oh." The euphoria drained from Junior's face in an instant. "I'm really sorry."

Nina looked at his distressed expression for a few more seconds before bursting into laughter. "Got you!"

Junior frowned, but confusion quickly turned into excitement. "You got in?" Nina nodded. Junior's entire face glowed with delight. "That's great! We're both going to go! This is so totally awesome! We're really doing it! I… I have to go tell my dad. Just a sec."

Junior sprang up and ran from his room. Nina chuckled as he slammed the door behind him. Same old Junior.


	4. Results in Expulsion

**_I'm really sorry about the long delay, guys. I couldn't log in yesterday to update; I'm not sure if I still can. Thankfully, while responding to a review, I managed to get back in again. So, enjoy!_**

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><p><strong>Chapter 4: Results in Expulsion<strong>

**Junior's POV**

Junior woke up with a start. He couldn't remember what he had been dreaming about now, but it had been troubling. Junior propped himself up on his elbows and surveyed his spacious room. Morning light filtered through the blinds of his window. Junior frowned. What time was it? He twisted around to look at his alarm clock. 8:15. Crap.

Junior sprung out of his bed. He quickly undressed and changed into the uniform the Academy had sent him a week ago. He grabbed his backpack and suit case and rushed downstairs. His dad was lounging in a chair downstairs, almost lazily drinking his coffee.

"You should've been down here an hour ago," his dad reminded him. "The drop pod to the Academy leaves in thirteen minutes."

"I know!" Junior shouted. "My alarm didn't go off for some reason."

He flung open the front door and slammed it behind him. He started running down the street. The advantage of their house was that it was only a couple of blocks from the drop pod landing zone. The problem was that Junior was dragging around a big, heavy suitcase and a less-heavy but equally-cumbersome backpack. And Junior had never been much of a runner, anyway.

After what seemed like forever, the drop pod landing zone came into view. There was only one on the ground, and its doors were closing. Junior ran as fast as he could and reached the pod right before its door completely closed. The door opened again, revealing the pissed off captain.

"What do you want kid?" he demanded.

"To get on," Junior answered simply.

He frowned. "Who are you?"

"Junior. Maybe you've heard of me?" Junior asked hopefully. He hated using the 'famous Father' excuse. The man shook his head. "My dad is Dr. Space-Claw."

"Oh, I've heard of him." The man suddenly seemed much more compliable. "Come on, kid."

Junior climbed onto the drop pod. About a dozen other recruits took up most of the seats. There was one free seat near the back, though, and Nina was sitting in the seat next to it. She glared at him as he sat down.

"I thought you bailed on me," she snapped.

"My alarm didn't go off," Junior explained.

Nina rolled her eyes. "You can't come up with a better excuse?"

"It's true!" Junior exclaimed indignantly.

Nina rolled her eyes again. "I think you just didn't want to come."

"And let you have all of the adventures to yourself?" Junior joked. "My dad would probably kill me if I missed the flight anyway."

Nina grinned. "Probably. So, how fast are these drop pod things?"

Junior shrugged. "I've never been in one until now."

Nina looked surprised. "Really? I would've assumed that you had, seeing as you're the son of a Starship Ranger."

Junior shook his head. "The only advantage of knowing a Starship Ranger is that you get free war stories and gloating. Oh, and if you're related to a Starship Ranger, everyone expects you to be this heroic, noble person."

"Everything you're not?" Nina teased.

Junior laughed. "More like everything you're not."

"Well it's a good thing I'm not related to a Starship Ranger, right?" Nina laughed.

Junior nodded. "You're lucky."

"Sometimes, but knowing you evens it out a little bit."

They both started laughing until their sides hurt. Junior could feel the eyes of the other students on them as they cracked up, but he didn't care. He had gotten used to receiving odd stares, whether from classmates who classified him as a weirdo or his father's co-workers who were puzzled by the lack of resemblance.

"We're here," the captain announced. His voice was full of boredom.

Nina grinned at Junior. "Here we go!"

Junior had been up to the Academy a couple of time, but nothing prepared him for the awe that hit him when the door opened. The docking bay was huge, and Junior wondered how large the actual Academy was. He could make out small commercial ships, large transporters, and massive war ships. It was breathtaking.

"Someone will be waiting to escort you to your dorms," the captain continued. He paused. "Have a wonderful day," he added in a monotone.

Junior unbuckled as quickly as he could and hurried off the drop pod with Nina following close behind him. Sure enough, a tall, thin man with paper-like skin and steel gray eyes wearing a blue Galactic League uniform (which was perhaps the most colorful part of him) was waiting at the end of the walkway.

Junior felt the man's eyes instantly spot him. "So…" the man mused softly. "This is Dr. Space-Claw's son?" The man stared at him like he was a bug in need of squashing.

"And who are you?" Nina demanded, undaunted.

"**Commander** Eric," the man answered, stressing the 'Commander' part.

Nina looked him over; she was probably wondering if she could take him. Commander Eric didn't look like much, but he had a zapper and dozens of fellow Starship Ranger who would aid him in a fight against a fourteen-year-old. Fortunately, the last of the recruits clambered off of the drop pod and Commander Eric took that as an invitation to launch into a speech.

"Welcome, new recruits, to the Galactic League of Extraterrestrial Exploration Pre-Academy," he began. He sounded just as bored as the captain, but at least it seemed like he had put effort into planning what he was going to say. "During your stay here, you will be sharing a dorm with another person of the same gender. Any fighting between you and your roommate will result in expulsion. You are expected to attend every class everyday unless you have an excuse. Ten missed classes without an excuse will result in expulsion. You are required to be on time to every class every day. Coming to class late more than ten times will result in –"

"Expulsion?" Nina guessed.

Eric's thing lips twisted slightly, and he ignored Nina. "You are expected to wear your uniform at all times, whether you're on or off campus. Dress code violations will result in expulsion. You are not allowed off campus without permission. Being off campus without written permission will result in expulsion. Curfew is ten o'clock. Being caught outside of your dorm after ten ten times will result in expulsion. Questions?"

Everybody shook their heads except for Nina; she rolled her eyes.

"Good. Now, unless any of you are so incompetent that you have forgotten your room numbers, I'll take you down to the dorms." Commander Eric paused as if daring someone to say that they had forgotten the number. No one had, though, or they were too scared to say so. "Come on, then."


	5. Dumb Blondes and Potato Chips

_**So... I haven't updated in a while for reasons explained on my profile. I don't feel like repeating them, so go on there if you want to see. Also, quite unintentionally, I created a character as tribute to... well, go on my profile, read what I've written there, come back, and then you'll understand.**_

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><p><strong>Chapter 5: Dumb Blondes and Potato Chips<strong>

**Nina's POV  
><strong>

"Holy shi –"

The profanity died in Nina's mouth as she stared at the details of her new room. It was rather small; it had two beds, two nightstands, and one bathroom off to the side. That wasn't the bad part, though. Everything was pink. Disgusting, bright, hideous, fake pink. It was actually quite sickening to look at. Looking around, Nina saw that both of the beds were covered in bright pink sheets. Wasn't she supposed to sleep in one of those?

That's when Nina saw her roommate. Just by looking at her, Nina knew they weren't going to get along. The girl had short blonde hair and walked like the floor was on fire; she practically bounced over to where Nina was.

"Hi! My name's May. Like the month, but a person!" The girl introduced herself excitedly. "Are you the cleaning lady?"

_Cleaning lady? _"Yes," Nina said sarcastically.

"Oh good!" May exclaimed, not picking up on Nina's sarcasm. "I was wondering when someone would come to clean up Sparky's mess!"

"Sparky?" Nina echoed.

"Yeah!" May walked over to one of the beds and picked up a small fuzzy pink thing that Nina had originally mistaken for a pillow. "Sparky's my dog!"

"Who lets a dog into a school?" Nina asked. "What if someone's allergic or something?"

"Silly, this isn't actually a dog!" May explained, putting Sparky back on the ground.

_I'm the one who's silly? _Nina thought. _Dead-god, this is going to be a long year._

"This is my Data Dog!" May continued.

"How did you get a Data Dog?" Nina couldn't help but be mildly impressed. Data Dogs were allowed in the Academy, but it was almost impossible to get your hands on one. Apparently, they were more likely to respond to robot masters than human ones.

"My daddy's an important person," May answered with a smirk.

_Dr. Space-Claw never did that for Junior, _Nina reflected.

"So are you going to clean up Sparky's mess or not?" May demanded.

Nina nearly rolled her eyes. If her dad was as important as she said, though, she would be in trouble if she offended May. "I'm not the cleaning lady."

A sudden look of both panic and fear filled May's face. "But…" She looked hopelessly confused. "Then who are you?" she asked. She sounded like she was out of some bad teen romance movie.

Nina was very much tempted to tell May that she was her father. "I'm your roommate," Nina answered.

"Roommate?" The look on May's look was so priceless, and Nina was glad she hadn't gone with her first response. May looked like the world was going to end. She just stood there with her mouth hanging open and horror in her eyes.

"Well who did you think the other bed was for?" Nina asked, folding her arms. She had to bite the inside of her mouth to resist laughing.

"I thought it was for Sparky," May admitted, looking sadly back at the other bed. She turned back to Nina, and all traces of being embarrassed for making such a stupid mistake were gone. "My daddy will hear of this!"

With that, May charged past Nina and ran down the hall. Nina watched her run with her arms pressed to her sides. She looked a bit like a penguin. Satisfied, Nina turned back to her room and focusing on pushing everything off of her bed. (She found Sparky's mess in the process; what kind of Data Dog does something like that?) When there was a clump of pink blankets on the floor, Nina shoved her suitcases into an unoccupied corner and rested on her bed.

The silence that followed was strangely unsettling. Nina would've thought that having a Data Dog in the room meant having company, but Sparky was strangely quiet and hadn't moved from the spot that May had put him in. He was probably turned off at the moment, but Nina didn't want to risk getting in trouble with whoever May's father was, so she continued sitting on the bed.

Finally, the boredom was overwhelming, so Nina got up and pulled out her map. _Now where did Junior say that his room is again?_

**Junior's POV**

As soon as Junior walked into his room, his face was impaled by a bag of potato chips. He blinked rapidly as the Lays fell to the floor, revealing a guy Junior assumed was his roommate. He was about the shorter than Junior and had blue eyes and curly blonde hair.

"Oh. You're not Kyle. Sorry," he apologized. "My family came to see me off, and if my brother found out my room number, he'd never stop irritating me. I've been running from room to room for hours; he always manages to catch up to me, though."

"Hey, Nick, was it Kyle?" someone called from the bathroom.

"No; I think it's your roommate," the boy, Nick, answered. His name seemed familiar…

"Aw man. I was hoping I had the room to myself," the person in the bathroom whined.

The guy in the bathroom came out. He was tall and had dark skin and black hair. He grinned at Junior. "My name's Anthony. Who are you and are you actually my roommate?"

Junior ran a hand nervously through his hair as he often did when people asked him that question. He couldn't imagine that his peers would care who his dad was, but one could never really know.

"My name's Junior. Maybe –" Thankfully, Junior didn't get a chance to finish his question, and he didn't have to explain who his dad was.

"Junior!" Nick exclaimed suddenly. "I knew you looked familiar!"

Junior frowned. He recognized Nick's name and face; he just didn't know why. Then something clicked. "I went to Pre-School with you, didn't I?"

Nick nodded. There was a pause, and then Nick glomped him. Junior was slightly stunned as the shorter boy hugged him tightly, but he hugged Nick back anyway. Seeing him again brought back all sorts of memories; they had been close friends in Pre-K, but Junior hadn't seen him since he had transferred.

"As great as it is seeing you guys hugging…" Junior's roommate's voice caused the two boys to take a big step away from each other. Anthony's grin widened. "I think we'll get along pretty well. I'm just glad I don't have a prick for a roommate."

Junior could tell from Anthony's constant grinning and usage of the word 'prick' that he was probably going to be a troublemaker. That didn't bother Junior too much, though. Honestly, he was glad he didn't have a prick for a roommate too.

Then, he heard a knock on the door. Anthony's eyes widened with mock panic. "Oh no! Nick, quickly! Get the ammunition."

Nick picked up the discarded complementary bag of chips and ducked behind one of the beds. "Junior, open the door and quickly step back."

Junior considered suggesting that they find out who it was before throwing potato chips at them but decided against it. At the very least, it would be fun to watch. He walked over to the door and opened it. He prepared to follow the rest of Nick's instructions, through, but he stopped when he saw who it was.

"Hi, Ni –" Junior was cut off as a bag of chips impaled his head for the second time that day. He turned around and glared at Nick.

"I told you to move!" Nick exclaimed.

"Well, it wasn't your brother at the door," Junior snapped, slightly irritated.

"Oh." Nick stood up from his hiding position behind the bed. "Who is it?"

Junior stepped back and let Nina walk in. "This is my friend, Nina."

"A friend that's a girl?" Anthony asked, waggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Nina picked up the bag of chips that had been thrown at Junior's head and flung them at Anthony. She smirked as it hit him in the nose. "We're just friends."

"Nina, this is my roommate, Anthony," Junior explained, pointing at Anthony, who was rubbing his sore nose. "And this is a friend of mine that I knew in Pre-K, Nick."

"It's a small world, isn't it?" Nick smiled politely at Nina and extended a hand to her. "Sorry I tried to throw a bag of chips at your face."

"It's okay; just don't do it again," Nina told him. She shook his hand.

"So… what are you doing here?" Junior interrupted as Nick pulled his hand away, blushing slightly.

"Well, my roommate is a total ditz, and I needed someone to talk to," Nina explained.

"I'm sure she's not that bad," Junior argued.

"Oh, she is. Her name is May, like the month, but a person!" At the last part, Nina's voice became high-pitched and screechy in an imitation of her roommate. She gave an exaggerated smile as she said it.

"You'll live," Junior insisted.

"I'm not sure," Nina replied sarcastically. "My eardrums might just explode from hearing her voice too often."

"Well, I'm here if you need someone else to talk to," Junior assured her.

"Of course you're just friends," Anthony muttered, rolling his eyes.

Nina folded her arms and glared at him. "Well, wouldn't you be there for a close friend of yours?"

"Yeah, but all my friends are guys," Anthony answered, smirking.

Nina continued glaring. "It's a wonder you have friends at all," she muttered.

Anthony still heard her. "That it is, future Mrs. Junior Space-Claw. That it is."

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><p><em><strong>There's a poll up on my profile asking which new OC you like the best. Please go vote! And review. And read what I've written on my profile if you haven't already. And go listen to 'Kick It Up a Notch Reprise', which is the best StarKid song (even if it's not even a minute long). Also, go watch 'AVSS' (A Very StarKid Sleepover), which features me, FuzzehNomNom, FTWinterstorm, and another friend of mine. I'm the one wearing the Rumbleroar's Army t-shirt. More videos of it will be coming (which include me singing Meredith's part in 'The Way I Do', Brian's part in 'Kick It Up a Notch', and Pincer's part at the end of 'Kick It Up a Notch'. You won't be able to see me in that part 'cause my sister sucks at capturing the person who's actually singing lead [my friends were all singing the mosquito parts]. Now enough of my self promotion; go review.)<strong>_


	6. ALL NIGHTER! WOHOO!

_**So... trying to get back on a regular update schedule. I'm just really excited for what I have planned for this fanfic. And I want to prove that I can actually finish a multi-chaptered fic.**_

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><p><strong>Chapter 6: ALL-NIGHTER! WOHOO!<strong>

**Nina's POV**

Nina's first day at the Academy was relatively good. She had spent the majority of the afternoon with Junior and his new-found friends. She had gone to dinner with them and then decided to go back to her room. She wasn't sure why; the last thing she wanted to do was see May again. Luckily, her idiot roommate was still gone, so Nina plugged in her laptop to a nearby outlet. She connected to the Academy's network and pulled up her zmail. She had two new emails; one was from her dad, and the other was from her mom. Both were asking how the first day at the Academy had been. Nina wrote two quick replies to each of them, telling them that she was fine and her day had been fine as well. When she had sent the second email, she closed her laptop, turned off the lights, and went to sleep.

She managed to stay asleep too, until about three o'clock, when the sound of outdated pop songs awoke her. Nina blinked sleepily; the harsh red light from her digital clock resting on her nightstand glared back at her. As she shook the sleep from her eyes, the glowing red dashes became clearer and revealed the time. 3:26.

_Why the hell am I awake at 3:26? _Nina wondered.

The answer came to her as T.G.I.F. was blasted through nearby speakers. Nina pushed herself up and turned around to see May dancing (rather badly, I might add) to the old Katy Perry song, which was coming out of Sparky's mouth. May had hung up several Christmas lights around her section of the room, which she had turned on to give her life.

Nina glared at her oblivious roommate, who was still dancing. "What are you doing?" she demanded, trying to keep her voice level.

May turned around. She looked slightly surprised, but she grinned wildly. "Pulling an all-nighter, silly!"

Nina blinked as her tired mind tried to process May's words. "All-nighter?" she echoed, still not comprehending it.

"Yeah! It's where you stay up all night!" May explained.

Nina, now fully awake and irritated, glared at her. "Well, I actually want to get some sleep!"

"Where's the fun in that?" May asked.

"You're going to get in trouble!" Nina insisted. Honestly, she didn't care that much if May got in trouble. Maybe detention would make her less conceited.

"My daddy would never let that happen," May argued.

"Look, could you at least turn it down a bit?" Nina requested. She was too tired to yell at May, and she definitely didn't want to pick a fight. She just wanted some sleep.

"Sparky, turn it up!" May commanded.

The data dog obliged, and T.G.I.F. continued blasting out his mouth even louder than before. Nina hadn't known that was possible.

_That's not what turn it down means! _Nina thought angrily.

Nina sighed as she realized there was no reasoning with the hyper blonde. That thought brought up a new question, though. "How do you have this much energy?" she asked, mildly curious.

"Coffee!" May exclaimed. She turned around and pulled up a coffee machine that was in the process of brewing more.

Nina stared at the coffee machine. May's coffee addiction explained why she was so easily excited and hyper. She wondered how much of the stuff she drank to make herself so hectic. Then, Nina wondered how she had developed an addiction in the first place. What parent lets their kid have coffee in general?

"So, you're going to be up all night?" Nina asked, unable to keep the despair out of her voice.

May nodded. "That's what an all-nighter means!"

_She'll run out of songs eventually, _Nina told herself. _Then I'll finally be able to get some sleep._

As it turned out, Nina was wrong. Sparky seemed to have over four hours of music downloaded on him, and it ranged from outdated pop music to even more outdated rock-and-roll music, and included a large collection of music from old Disney Channel shows. Nina was pretty sure she would scream if she had to hear Best of Both Worlds again.

Finally, at around five-ish, Nina resorted to opening her laptop. She wasn't sure why she didn't do it earlier; it would've made her life easier. She had no new emails, but to her surprise, Junior was also online. She hit the video chat option, and Junior's face illuminated her computer screen.

Junior looked mildly surprised, but it also looked like he had had as much sleep as she had. "Is your roommate watching the first three Star Wars movies too?" he asked.

Nina shook her head. "No. Mine decided to listen to songs from the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries at an ear-splitting level."

Junior frowned. "Is that the Good Luck Charlie theme song?"

Nina nodded, though she was slightly surprised that Junior recognized it. Before she could ask him why he recognized the irritatingly catchy theme song, May jumped on her bed, nearly spilling the cup of coffee in her hands.

"IS THIS YOUR BOYFRIEND?" May shouted over the music.

"NO!" Nina shouted back, shoving her away.

Junior blinked. "So that's your roommate?"

Nina nodded grimly.

"I feel sorry for you," Junior apologized.

There was a pause in which Nina could distinctly hear Darth Vader tell Luke that he was his father.

"So, apparently it's some kind of tradition hear to pull an all-nighter the first night," Junior announced, interrupting Luke's NOOOOOO!

Nina nodded. "It seems that way for sure."

Junior pinched the bridge of his nose. "I'm going to need some coffee tomorrow too at this rate."

Nina nodded again. "Me too. And I don't even like that stuff. May seems to love it, though."

She turned around briefly to see May pretending to punch the air as she listened to the instrumental break in some song Nina didn't know the name of. May still had a cup of coffee in her hands, which spilled everywhere as she quickly criss-crossed her feet.

"Somehow I imagine every night is going to be this hectic with her around," Nina muttered, pointing to May.

Junior shrugged. "I can lend you a pair of noise canceling headphones. Maybe you can tune out the music."

"Or I could disable Sparky," Nina suggested.

"Sparky?" Junior echoed.

"Her Data Dog that she uses as a music player," Nina explained, rolling her eyes. "A waste of a lot of money, if you ask me."

There was a loud gasp from off screen. "Who has a Data Dog?"

Suddenly, Anthony's face appeared on the screen. "Oh. Hi Nina. I thought Junior who is important enough to own a Data Dog."

Junior slapped Anthony's arm. "Get off my bed," Junior hissed, trying to shove the taller boy off of the bed.

Anthony barely budged. "So, who owns a Data Dog?"

"My roommate," Nina answered through gritted teeth.

"The ditz?" Anthony asked.

Nina nodded. "The ditz who's addicted to coffee."

"Well, at least you can laugh when she forgets to drink it one day and has all the tiredness hit her at once, causing her to collapse unconscious," Anthony assured her.

Nina laughed at the thought. "That'll be hilarious."

"Well, I'll see you in a couple hours. I'm off to watch Return of the Jedi. I just need to find the disk…" Anthony trailed off as he got off of Junior's bed and walked off screen.

Nina looked at her schedule, wondering what classes she would have tomorrow and if she would have enough energy to do them. She and Junior had already compared their schedules and found that they were strikingly similar, but she hadn't looked at it very closely. To her dismay, she found that both Basic Combat Class and Generic Physical Education were both early in the morning.

"Check your schedule," she told Junior. "We have to get through Basic Combat Class and Generic Physical Education with about three hours of sleep."

She watched Junior fetch his schedule. His face fell as he realized what she had said was true. "Well, it can't be too bad. Can it?"

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><p><em><strong>Sorry if any of you are Disney Channel fans and feel that I have offended you in this chapter.<strong>_

_**You know what? I'm going to do it. I'm going to finish this. I swear on Brian Holden's grave (*weeps*) that I will finish this. And you can hold me to it when I disappear off the face of the Internet (which is usually how the majority of my multi-chapter fanfics end).**_


	7. That One Teacher

_**As in 'that one teacher that you know for a fact hates your guts'. I'm sorry for the long pause between updates. I also apologize for the shortness of this chapter and for any spelling mistakes I made. My fingers are kind of frozen right now. Dead-God, the weather here is so bi-polar...**_

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><p><strong>Chapter 7: That One Teacher<strong>

**Junior's POV**

As it turned out, Junior was wrong. It could be that bad, and became evident that it would be when Junior found out who was teaching General Physical Education. Basic Combat Class hadn't been too bad. The instructor had a wry sense of humor and had opened the class by telling them specifically never do to the crane. Apparently, it set off your center of balance, left you wide open, and was like holding a sign over your head that said 'HIT ME!'. Junior had immediately recognized the General Physical Education teacher, though.

"Welcome, students," Commander Eric greeted the group as they came into the gym. Junior couldn't help but feel that the Commander was talking directly to him. "I hope that you didn't come here hoping for an easy couple laps followed by hula-hooping for the entire period because that's not how things work here. Twenty laps. Now."

Junior and Nina exchanged confused looks. _Twenty laps? _Junior thought. _He's got to be joking. _The other students also looked puzzled. It was only when Commander Eric blew his whistle that they got the message.

Junior had never been much of a runner or an athlete in general. Just the thought of doing twenty laps had made his head hurt. The gym wasn't terribly large, but twenty laps was overwhelming thought. By the fifth lap, Junior was already panting. By the tenth lap, he thought he was going to faint. His sides and lungs burned in agony, and he had to stop.

Nina stopped and stared at him. "Are you okay?"

"I'm… fine…" Junior wheezed. His voice was as dry as sandpaper.

"Hey, you two! Keep running!" Commander Eric shouted.

A number of other students had begun walking, yet Commander Eric had chosen to single them out. He had made it bluntly obvious that he hated Junior; he just couldn't find out why.

Junior's muscles screamed in protest as he forced himself to keep running. Nina continued to stare at him as they both started jogging again. Junior's legs felt like lead as his tried to put one foot in front of the other. The sweat was beginning to blur his vision, and his sides felt like they were on fire.

They passed by where Commander Eric was standing near the gym door. Nina stopped. "Sir, Junior needs a break."

"Oh really?" Commander Eric demanded. Junior had stopped as well and had to put his hands on his knees to keep himself balanced. "Your father never asked our instructor for a break. He was always the first one done with his warm ups. He always completed his laps before anyone else. He could run around this gym fifty times without breaking a sweat."

_Somehow I doubt that. _"I'm not… my father," Junior muttered. His throat burned when he talked.

"No. You're not," Commander Eric leered. "You're a poor, weakling who is unfortunate enough to share the last name of the greatest Commander in the Galactic League. You disgrace your father's name."

Commander Eric's words stung, but Junior was in too much pain to care. He had already heard that speech anyway.

Commander Eric blew his whistle, causing everyone who was still running to stop. "Everyone, this is your lucky day. You get to run ten extra laps to make up for the ten that Mr. Space-Claw here was too weak to finish."

Every single student in the gym groaned, except for Nina. She glared at Commander Eric before she started running again. Commander Eric smirked and turned back to Junior, who had collapsed on the bleachers.

"Do you want to go get some water?" Commander Eric asked. He spoke in a mocking tone.

Junior nodded mutely. It still hurt too much to talk.

"Well guess what? You can't go get some," Commander Eric snarled. "Just because you're Dr. Space-Claw's son doesn't mean you get special privileges. You still have to do the work that everyone else does."

"Then why did you let me stop?" Junior rasped.

"I let you stop because you are weak and pathetic and would've probably passed out before you finished," Commander Eric snapped back. "Are you sure you're related to Dr. Space-Claw?"

"Positive," Junior mumbled.

"How cute. I can't wait to tell your father that you have so much faith in your lovely father-son relationship," Commander Eric teased.

"You don't talk to my dad," Junior argued.

"We work in the same office," Commander Eric scoffed. "I see him practically ever day, so he'll be getting regular reports from me about you."

"Is there a reason you hate me?" Junior demanded.

"Hate you? When did I say that?" Commander Eric asked sweetly before turning away to monitor the running kids.

_Great. It's barely ten a.m., and I've already made an enemy, _Junior thought angrily _Well, it can't get much worse… I just jinxed myself._

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><p><strong><em>*leaves to defrost fingers*<em>**


	8. Bullies

_**I meant to have this up last night, but FF had a wierd glitch that made me sign in whenever I tried to access Doc Manager and then kept redirecting me to my account page, and yeah... I also had an awesome A/N that I wrote right before I went to dinner. When I came back and tried to save it, the glitch started acting up. Anyway, I'll make this A/N short and simple:**_

_**I was reading Homestuck. I finally got caught up. That's why I haven't been updating as much. Sorry. You should read Homestuck too. I am going to start writing Homestuck fics. So is FuzzehNomNom. We will be writing some of these fics together. Who's pumped for Holy Musical Bman?**_

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><p><strong>Chapter 8: Bullies<strong>

**Junior's POV**

Junior avoided Nina on their way back to the locker room. As much as he wanted to talk to her, he didn't want to complain about Commander Eric. Junior had found out early on in their friendship that Nina was fiercely protective of the people she liked and was incredibly irrational when the people she cared about were threatened. He couldn't imagine that she would take on a teacher, but she was sort of a wild card at times. So, Junior easily blended in with the crowd of taller boys as they were herded into the locker rooms.

Junior silently propped up his locker and grabbed his stuff. He quietly and quickly changed back into his uniform. He was about to leave when someone came up behind him and shoved him into the lockers. Junior cried out in pain as his head collided with the sharp metal edge of the locker door.

"Oops," a voice leered. "Better call the cops on me. I just made Doctor Space-Claw's son bleed."

Junior looked up, clutching his throbbing head, to see a tall, muscular boy looming over him. He could make out others beginning to form around him. They all laughed at his jibe.

From somewhere, Junior mustered the courage to speak. "C- can I help you?"

"Yeah, you can help me," he answered. "You can help me by not pretending that you're better than anyone else just because your dad is a fucking Starship Ranger."

"I'm not trying to –" Junior began.

"It doesn't matter if you're trying to or not," he interrupted. "The fact is that I had to do ten more laps than I should have because you're weak, pathetic and related to Doctor Space-Claw."

"I didn't mean to –"

"I don't care what you meant to do," he snapped. "It seems to me like you're slacking off because your dad is important, so you're going to make up those ten laps now."

"Now?" Junior echoed, fear crawling into his heart.

"Yeah. _Now_," he hissed.

Junior could feel eyes on him from every corner of the locker room. He took a tentative step forward. He tried to shake away all the stares and focus. He could see the exit; there was a gap in the crowd. Maybe he could make it.

As soon as he started running, he found himself on the floor. The agony that was already splitting his skull increased tenfold, and his right hand was bruised as it provided a thin barrier between his head and the floor.

He could sense someone standing behind him. Suddenly, a hand was grabbing the collar of his shirt and pulling him off the floor. "I'm sorry." Junior felt the guy's breath on his ear. "Did I trip you? Sorry. Keep running."

The guy dropped Junior. Junior stumbled to get a good footing but failed. He was on the ground again in a matter of seconds. His head was spinning; colors were dancing in front of his eyes.

"Kev, I think that blow to the head may be affecting him," a nervous voice announced from somewhere else.

"He's fine," the guy, Kev, insisted.

Junior's skull was split by fire. Every shape was a blurry, dizzy triangle. It was like he was looking through a kaleidoscope. Then, everything went black.


	9. Can't Stop Worrying

_***shoots the concept of updating regularly and laughs mercilessly as it writhes on the ground in pain***_

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><p><strong>Chapter 9: Can't Stop Worrying<strong>

**Nina's POV**

Nina waited outside the boy's locker room for Junior. She understood why he had ignored her; the humiliation that Commander Eric had put him through was enough to make any person cringe. However, he would need someone to talk to sooner or later. She had been his friend long enough to know that.

So, she waited. She was jostled as the crowd of sweaty boys ran past her, trying to get to their next class. There was no Junior, though. She checked her watch anxiously and realized if she didn't leave now, she was going to be late. Nina sighed in defeat and turned away from the locker room.

_He probably left before me, _Nina told herself, hurrying down the hall towards the science classroom.

Nina arrived at class just before the final bell rang. The teacher glared at her as she quietly shuffled to an empty seat near the back of the room close to Nick and Anthony, who had fallen asleep on his textbook. Junior wasn't with them.

Nick smiled at Nina. "This is what you get when you pull an all-nighter, right?" he asked, pointing at Anthony.

"Have you seen Junior?" Nina demanded.

The smile on Nick's face faded. "No. We assumed that he was with you."

"He's not," Nina replied nervously. "I haven't seen him since the end of gym."

Nick frowned. "Are you sure he's in this class?"

Nina nodded. "He's in a separate math class and takes Spanish, but I'm pretty sure those are the only differences in our schedules. He should be here." Nina looked around the room to once again confirm that Junior wasn't there.

"I'm sure he'll come soon," Nick assured her. "He's going to be alright."

His words fell on deaf ears, though. Nina had heard that sentence too many times, and she had learned that nine times out of ten it wasn't true. Junior's current emotional state was not doing anything to ease her nerves, either.

Nina barely paid attention to the teacher's beginning-of-the-year lecture. She tried to listen to his words and forget about Junior, but her mind was still on him, and all she could hear was a faint droning. Eventually, she gave up and tried to focus on something else. There was a pie tin that was full of green slime on the far right shelf. There was a graduated cylinder with a suspicious yellow liquid in a cabinet on the back wall. She could hear an obnoxious bird singing outside. Even as she tried to hone in on the repeating melody, the thoughts of Junior lingered in her subconscious, and they refused to leave.

Eventually, the anxiety got the best of Nina. She shot her hand up into the air, and the teacher stopped mid-sentence to glare at her. "Yes?"

"Can I go to the bathroom?" Nina asked, trying to keep her voice from shaking. The teacher's glare intensified. "Please?"

"Hurry up," he snapped.

Nina could feel all the eyes in the classroom as she hurried out. She had no idea where the bathroom was, but she hadn't been intending on going to the bathroom. She turned around and took off running towards the boy's locker room. Her fingers hovered over the handle of the door. She began to wonder if this was really a smart decision, specifically going into the boy's locker room.

Luckily, there was no need to choose whether to go inside or not. Suddenly, the handle began to turn. Nina dashed around the corner and peered over the edge. She saw Doctor Space-Claw walk briskly out of the locker room and take a step back. She watched several rangers wearing white uniforms step out carrying a stretcher. Her heart leapt into her throat as she saw who was lying in it: Junior.

Nina's grip on the wall tightened, and she was surprised the rangers didn't hear the sound of her heart pounding in her chest. _Oh Dead-God, what happened? Oh, god, god, god, god, god…_

"Take him to the medical ward." Nina's panicking thoughts were interrupted by Doctor Space-Claw.

The rangers complied and began hauling the stretched down hall. "Are you coming, sir?" one of them asked.

"I will be there in just a minute," Doctor Space-Claw replied. "Now go. Hurry! I expect him to have fully recovered by the time I get back."

The rangers scurried away as quickly as they could. Doctor Space-Claw turned around and approached the corner that Nina was hiding behind. "Miss Wesley?"

Nina swallowed the torrent of emotions that were rising in her chest and stepped around the corner. "Yes?"

"Aren't you supposed to be in class?" he demanded.

"I got lost on my way to the bathroom," Nina lied.

She shifted uncomfortably as he examined her with his metallic, robot-like eyes. "Come with me."

Nina was surprised. She had been expecting a stern reprimanding, not an invitation. "Come with you where?"

"To the medical ward," Doctor Space-Claw elaborated. "Your personal attachment to my son has not escaped my notice. Come."

He turned and started walking away. Nina struggled to catch up with him and match his long strides. "Do you know what happened?"

"No." The only sound was Doctor Space-Claw's boots falling against the floor. "I intend on talking with Junior after he regains consciousness and whoever has done this will be expelled."

_That's not good enough, _Nina thought bitterly.

"My question is: why did it happen?" Doctor Space-Claw asked.

Nina blinked. "What do you mean?"

"You two are rather close, and it would seem to me that you would instantly recognize any disturbances in Junior's life," Doctor Space-Claw elaborated. "Was there any indication as to why someone would want to knock Junior unconscious?"

Nina paused. Something clicked in her mind. "Commander Eric was forcing others to do more laps than Junior for certain… reasons."

Doctor Space-Claw frowned. "Commander Eric should know better than to take his personal grudge on my out on my son."

"Personal grudge?" Nina pressed.

"That's not information that you need to know," Doctor Space-Claw snapped. "Besides, we're here."

It was true; they had stopped outside the medical ward. Nina had no idea what path she had followed to get here, but getting back to her classes was the least of her concerns. Her heart began to pound anxiously again, and her thoughts instantly went back to Junior.

Doctor Space-Claw opened the heavy white door with one hand. Trembling, Nina walked into the ward. Everything was white, and it took her eyes a moment to adjust to the harsh florescence of the room. It was all so bright; it hurt her eyes to stare at any one point for too long.

"Doctor Space-Claw!" A doctor ran up to them. "Your son's head has stopped bleeding, and there seems to be no severe head trauma. However, he's still unconscious."

"I'm not very surprised," Doctor Space-Claw replied. "Take us to him."

The doctor glanced briefly at Nina and led them over to a small white bed. She stared at Junior's unmoving body. His skin seemed just as pale as the white sheets lying underneath him. His chocolate brown hair was a mess, and a large beige Band-Aid covered his forehead. His eyes were shut and his lips were slightly parted. Nina was reminded of those cheesy romance movies where all the princess has to do is kiss the prince to awaken him.

_No, _Nina told herself. _Junior is your best friend. Best friends don't kiss other best friends._

Nina wasn't even sure where that thought had come from; she had always valued Junior as a friend and nothing else. She just really wished he would wake up.


	10. What We Do For Friends

_**Warning: this chapter is most likely one of my lesser works, as it happens to be eleven pm over here. However, you guys better appreciate it as I wasted the majority of my last day of Spring Break working on it. Dead God, I hate school...**_

_**Edit: Realized how hypocritical that A/N was. What I meant to say is that I wasted the majority of my last day of Spring Break attempting to write this chapter and staring at a blank Microsoft Word document and then threw the entire thing together at eleven pm, which may seem relatively normal for most people, but isn't for me because I am not a night person and cannot function properly unless I acquire a certain amount of sleep.**_

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><p><strong>Chapter 10: What We Do For Friends<strong>

**Junior's POV**

The harsh white lights of the medical ward stung Junior's eyes when he first opened them. He closed them again quickly, but his eyes rapidly adjusted to the florescent lights. After opening his eyes a second time, it took him a few moments for his mind to register exactly where he was. His hands grasped the edges of the hard and unfamiliar cot that he was lying on. The sign hanging above the door to his right gave Junior his answer: he was in the medical ward.

That was when Junior remembered what had happened to him. He remembered the bullies and Commander Eric. As if on que, his head began to throb again. His hand unconsciously shot up to his forehead. Though all he could feel was a white bandage, he knew what lay beneath it.

Grimacing, Junior propped himself up on his elbows and attempted to adjust his legs. That was when he became aware of another figure sitting at the end of the bed. The person had a large textbook in her lap and seemed to be completely absorbed in the information it held. As she crossed her legs, she lifted the book, and Junior managed to see the title on the back of the book.

"Is chemistry really that interesting?" Junior asked.

Nina looked up from the book, slightly surprised, but after a second, a grin breaks out across her face. "No, but I need to read this for homework."

Junior frowned. "Who assigns homework on the first day?"

"Our chemistry teacher," Nina replied. "I decided to bring it with me when I came to see you, since I can't even hear myself think in my dorm."

"What time is it?" Junior asked. "How long have I been out?"

Nina closed the book and checked her watch. "It's seven thirty, and you have been out for Dead God knows how long." Junior saw concern flash in her chocolate eyes, and the smile faded. "What happened?"

Junior ignored her question. "Do Nick and Anthony know where I am?"

"Yeah," Nina answered dismissively. "I told them what happened after I visited you this morning."

"You saw me this morning?" Junior asked, slightly confused.

"Yes," Nina snapped. Junior could hear an edge in her voice. "I watched them carry your unconscious body out of the boys' locker room."

"Weren't you supposed to be in class?" Junior pressed.

"I left so I could look for you!" Junior wasn't quite sure exactly why Nina was getting so mad, but he could hear the anger in her voice. "I was worried sick about you, and now you're going to tell me why you were unconscious for most of school today!"

"I hit my head on a gym locker," Junior lied.

He didn't know why he was lying. He had known Nina long enough to know that she would try to take revenge on the guys who beat him up, though, and the disturbing images of what would happen flashed through his head in an instant. He was protecting her by lying. At least, that's what he told himself.

Nina looked at him skeptically, though, and he knew she didn't buy his story. "I hit it relatively hard."

"Well, you know where to find me when you decide to stop lying," Nina announced. She stood up and strode out of the medical ward.

_Shit, _Junior thought as he watched her leave. He came to a conclusion: lying to your best friend who has known you since Kindergarten is a bad idea. He couldn't bring himself to tell the truth, though.

His next visitor was Nick, whose face was even paler than usual. When he saw Junior, he glared at him and punched him on the shoulder. "You are an idiot, Junior."

"Getting injured does not make me an idiot," Junior argued, rubbing the spot where Nick had punched him.

"Knocking yourself unconscious does," Nick answered. "Nina told me what you said, and I'll warn you now that neither of us believe it."

Junior shrugged nonchalantly. "You don't have to believe me; it's the truth."

"Uh-huh." Nick rolled in his eyes. "Could you please tell me what really happened."

A part of Junior began to feel guilty. He knew he would feel even more guilty if his friends tried to take on the bullies, though. "That is what really happened."

Nick continued staring at him. "Suit yourself." Unlike Nina, Nick didn't leave. He continued sitting on the foot of the bed. Junior could feel his sky-blue eyes boring into him, as if attempting to find out what really had happened. "Does this have anything to do with Commander Eric?"

Nick's question breaks the empty silence that had consumed that part of medical ward. "How much did Nina tell you?"

"She told me that Commander Eric was purposely singling you out in gym class," Nick explained. "Since the accident happened shortly after gym class, I thought that there might be a connection."

"It indirectly has something to do with Commander Eric," Junior answered carefully.

Silence settled upon the two friends again. "When will you be able to leave?" Nick asked.

"I'm not sure," Junior replied. "Hopefully tomorrow. I hate hospitals. It always smells funny."

A smile cracks across Nick's face. "It smells _clean_."

"It's smells like sterilizer," Junior argued.

Nick laughed at that. "I don't think that sterilizer is supposed to have a smell."

"Fine. It smells like soap, then," Junior announced. "Excessive amounts of soap."

"Whatever you say." Nick stifled a laugh. "Personally, I enjoy the smell."

Junior rolled his eyes but didn't say anything. It was sort of nice to talk to a guy friend. Nina was a relatively good conversationalist, but there were certain things that you could tell another male that would get you a restraining order if you said them to a female.

Suddenly, Nick's phone began ringing obnoxiously. He blushed slightly and stepped away from the bed to take the call. Junior watched him silently step outside the medical ward. He came back a few minutes later with Anthony in tow.

"How do you get lost while trying to get to a place that's on the same hall?" Nick demanded.

"Dead God, calm down Nick," Anthony insisted. "Not all of us are adolescent Einsteins."

"I'd be surprised if you could even spell adolescent," Nick shot back.

"I'm not here to compete in a spelling bee," Anthony argued. "I'm here to see Junior."

Junior cleared his throat. "I'm right here you know," he interrupted.

The arguing teens turned to him. "You gave us all a heart attack, you know," Anthony told him. "I was afraid that I would have no one to give me answers to homework."

Nick rolled his eyes. "This isn't about you."

"I know that!" Anthony exclaimed. "Stop being so serious; I was just joking." Anthony turned back to Junior. "Honestly, though, you had us all really worried. You need to keep your head out of trouble from now on."

"Somehow I doubt that's going to happen," Nick commented. "His head was, after all, the thing that got him in trouble in the first place."

Anthony frowned. "What happened?"

"Supposedly, he hit his head on a gym locker and knocked himself unconscious," Nick explained.

Junior glared at his friend. "Don't talk about me like I'm not here," he muttered.

"Supposedly?" Anthony echoed, ignoring him.

"Nina and I believe otherwise," Nick informed him.

Junior coughed loudly. Both heads turned towards him. "If you two ladies want to gossip about different theories concerning why I was knocked unconscious this morning, then please do it somewhere else. Preferably somewhere where I can't hear you."

Nick at least had the decency to look slightly embarrassed. Anthony looked unaffected by the comeback. "Will you be staying the night here?" Anthony asked obliviously.

"I think so," Junior replied. "I don't think it's necessary, though."

"Do you want me to get a book or something from our room?" Anthony offered.

"I think I'll be fine," Junior responded.

"Well, if everything's fine and dandy, I think Nick and I will depart to our rooms," Anthony announced.

"If he was fine and dandy, do you think he would be in the medical ward?" Nick demanded, but his tone was half humorous.

Anthony shrugged in response. "He said he was fine."

Nick sighed. "Let's leave."

"Wait!" Junior exclaimed just before his two friends left the medical ward. It was Anthony who came back to his bed while Nick waited impatiently near the exit. "If you see Nina, tell her I'm sorry."

Anthony laughed. "Will do, Junior. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Junior replied.

When the door shut behind them, Junior let his head fall down on the pillow. He had really screwed up this time, hadn't he?


	11. Bonding

_**Oh God, I am really sorry you guys. A month delay... shit. I am so, so, so sorry for not updating sooner. I also apologize for the crapiness of this chapter. It is setting up things to come and can easily be dismissed as filler. There should be at least one more chapter that's sort of filler and happens in the fall, and then we're skipping right to December/January/February. I promise things will get more intersting then!**_

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><p><strong>C<strong>**hapter 11: Bonding**

**Nina's POV**

Nina had not spoken to Junior for eighty-two hours. A part of her thought that it was a bit obsessive to be keeping a tally. Another part of her felt like it was a necessary task as this had been the longest that either of them had gone without talking to each other. Though Nina would never admit it to anyone, she hated the silence. Junior was her best friend, and not talking to him was making her heart hurt. She was determined to see this grudge through, though. He had lied to her, and the thought of that hurt her even more than the thought of not talking to him.

With that in mind, Nina slid from her bed. She hadn't been getting much sleep because of May. Her roommate was always awake at night, and it surprised Nina that she could stay awake all night running only on coffee. After a second night of dance parties, Nina had checked May's bed to see if she was taking anything else. To her surprise, she had found nothing else.

Nina shook those thoughts out of her head and walked into the cafeteria for breakfast. She saw Nick waiting for her. After her fight with Junior, Nick had started eating with her during meals while Anthony sat with Junior. The only exception had been yesterday when Nick had chosen to sit with his guy friends and May had decided to sit with Nina because she "looked lonely".

_Hopefully that's not going to happen again, _Nina thought bitterly. She had been trying to limit contact with May outside of their room.

"Has Junior said anything?" Nina asked as she poured herself a cup of orange juice.

"Nope." Nick turned over a half-eaten roll. There was a long pause. "Were you two close friends?"

Nina nodded. "We still are, I hope. It's kind of odd fighting this early in the year." Nina paused and contemplated continuing. "This is the longest we've gone without talking."

Nick bites his bottom lip. "I'm sorry if it feels like I'm intruding," he mumbled. "We've haven't known each other for a week; these aren't thoughts you should be sharing with a stranger"

Nina shook her head. "No, don't apologize. I need someone to talk about this stuff."

Nick flushed slightly. "Why not your roommate?"

"May?" Nina laughed; the idea of expressing her feelings to May was so preposterous. "She wouldn't understand at all, and her advice would be awful."

"And what makes you think that I'm any different?" Nick asked; his tone is more inquisitive than accusative.

"Well, you're not addicted to coffee," Nina reminded him.

Nick laughed this time. "Touché." He glanced over his shoulder at where May was sitting happily and rambling about something to another girl. "I wasn't aware that a person could become that addicted to caffeine or that it could have such drastic energy boosts."

"Neither was I," Nina replied.

Nick grabbed the pitcher of water and poured some for himself. "I enjoy talking to you," Nick admitted. "It's such a shame that our first opportunity to bond was over this fight."

Nina nodded in agreement, though she really didn't want to talk about the fight now. "You knew Junior in Pre-K?"

"Yeah." Nick traded his half-eaten roll for a piece of toast. As he spread butter across the piece of toast, he elaborated. "We were best friends; I was so upset when his father transferred him." Nick paused and stopped mid-spread. "He hasn't changed at all."

That surprised Nina a bit, but before she had time to reply, Nick's knife slipped from his hand and clanged on the floor. They both reached down for it at the same time, and their hands brushed against each other's. Nick's hand was surprisingly warm, Nina noted, and his face was completely red. Nina wrapped her hands around the handle of the knife and quickly pulled it up before anything could get anymore awkward. She handed Nick the knife, but he just stared back, his face as red as a tomato.

Someone cleared their throat loudly from behind. Nina turned and saw Junior standing over them. His face was as white as a sheet and he was shaking slightly. He was carrying a card out in front of him, but as he stared at them, he slowly crumpled the card in his fist. Then, he turned away and walked back towards the entrance of the cafeteria. He paused just before leaving and threw the card into the trash can.

Nina watched him go and contemplated following him. He was obviously distressed; she couldn't fathom why. Before she could stand up, though, Nick was on his feet.

"I'll talk to him," he said.

**Junior's POV**

Junior wasn't sure why he was angry; it was perfectly within his friends' rights to have feelings for each other, right? It shouldn't bother him that Nina and Nick were becoming close; it shouldn't matter that Nina had been spending much more time with Nick than him. For some reason, though, he was anyway. Maybe it was the fact that he had finally given in and had decided to apologize and tell them what had happened in the locker room and they were adjusting to life without him so easily. He wasn't jealous; Nick liked Nina even though they hadn't known each other for a week and he was fine with it.

"Junior!"

Junior stopped just before turning around the corner. He spun around and found himself face-to-face with Nick. "Yes?"

"What's wrong?" Nick asked.

Junior sighed. "I don't know," he admitted at last.

"Let me ask a simpler question," Nick suggested. "Why did you walk out of the cafeteria?"

"Because…" Junior wasn't sure how to answer that question. "It's sort of awkward to walk on your best friend that you haven't seen in years flirting with your best friend that's a girl, I guess."

Nick flushed bright red. "I wasn't flirting with her."

"Whatever," Junior muttered dismissively. "I was going to apologize to you guys and tell you the truth, but…" Junior sighed again; all of this was so childish. "I overreacted, I guess."

"So what's the truth?" Nick pressed.

Junior grimaced; he was reluctant to tell the truth, but he supposed it had to be done if he wanted to expect any forgiveness from Nina or Nick. "Some bullies attacked me because they believed I was using the fact that my dad is important to get out of doing activities."

"Oh." Nick is quiet for a long time after that. "Are you going to tell Nina?"

Junior nodded. "Of course. I just hope she'll forgive me."

"She will," Nick assured him.

"How do you know?" Junior shot back, suddenly angry. "You haven't known her for a week!"

Nick looked slightly taken aback by Junior's outburst. "I know her type."

_Her type. _For some reason, hearing that only made Junior angrier. He had no idea why, either. "You like her," Junior stated simply, waiting for Nick to reply.

Nick ignored Junior. "She cares about you a lot; she will forgive you." Nick turned away and faced the direction of the cafeteria. "Shall we go back now?"

Junior nodded. His sudden rage subsided; he was going to forgive Nina, and everything would be okay again. The thought was almost a comforting one. They walked in silence back towards the cafeteria, but when they arrived, they discovered that Nina had left already. The first bell rang loudly; its noise echoed across the room and sent students running out of the cafeteria.

Nick frowned. "That's too bad. Do you have first period with her?"

Junior shook his head. _Damn it._


End file.
